Squirrel Prevention Tips - Attic, House, Garden, Bird Feeder

In short, it is very easy to prevent squirrels from getting into a house, attic, or chimney, but it is very difficult to prevent squirrels from getting into a garden, tree, or birdfeeder.

NOTE: I have received so many requests for professional help with squirrels, that I have made this complete listing of hundreds of professional squirrel removal experts serving every city in the USA.

How To Prevent a Squirrel From Chewing On Wood: Grey and Red squirrels are rodents. Their teeth grow continuously, and they have to gnaw to wear their teeth down. They chew all the time, on many surfaces, including wood, and of course, nuts. They often chew to break and gather sticks to build a nest, or they chew on wood in order to get inside a hole in a tree, or more often, a hole in a roof of a house, to get inside the attic or eaves or walls. Mother squirrels want a safe place to have a nest of young, and they love the attic. How do you stop them from chewing? You can sprinkle, or better yet, use a paintbrush, to spread super hot sauce on the wood. I mean, the hottest you can find, like Ghost Chili Pepper sauce, the kind that burns your tongue out if you sample just a toothpick tip's worth. Squirrels don't want to chew that. You can also try mace, or a product called Ropel. The problem with these products is that they wash off, and it's also a pain in the ass to apply them all over all the wood on your house. But if a squirrel is chewing one specific area, go ahead and use hot sauce.

How to Prevent a Squirrel From Stealing From Your Bird Feeder: Ah, an age-old problem. Squirrels are masters at stealing seeds from birdfeeders. Luckily, many people have worked on this problem for a long time, and the squirrel baffles, as they are called, work pretty well. Just go online and buy one. But I must say, at times mother nature prevails, and these amazing adaptable, agile creatures somehow find a way around baffles and to the seed.



NEED LOCAL HELP? We are wildlife removal professionals servicing 95% of the USA. Click here to hire our local squirrel removal expert in your home town. Updated 2021. But read the below advice first!

Squirrel Prevention in Garden: Unfortunately, this is pretty much impossible, unless you completely screen off and enclose the garden, or have an indoor greenhouse. Not going to happen. Sorry.

How to Prevent a Squirrel From Eating Fruit From Trees: Again, I don't see any solution here. I guess you could spray the fruit with hot sauce, but then that ruins the fruit for you. There's just no way to keep squirrels away from trees, that's their natural habitat, and they are master climbers and jumpers, of course. Read about What attracts squirrels?

Can't I Just Use a Squirrel Repellent?: I wish there was a good product for effective squirrel prevention. Many such products are in fact marketed and sold, but they are absolutely useless. Most are just mothballs or predator urine, and squirrels absolutely don't care. Mothballs poison the environment and can cause you cancer, by the way. I'll examine a few of the repellents and grey squirrel deterrents currently sold: Squirrel noise - high pitched ultrasonic electronic noise machines are totally bogus, and the FTC has issued a fraud warning about these crappy, worthless machines. Squirrel electric shock - shock tracks and electric fencing can actually be effective, if you can install them over every possible surface, that is. Not practical. Grey squirrels are masters at jumping and climbing and finding their way wherever they want to go, even if there's an electric fence. Squirrel Spray - Most sprays are predator urine or sulfur, and none of them work, they are a gimmick and waste of money. Squirrel Light - Strobe lights are heavily marketed to get squirrels out of attics, but they don't work well. It's true that they annoy squirrels, but the problem is that squirrels can burrow under insulation, go down soffits, go down walls, between floors, or any part of the architecture where the light can't reach, including, simply, to another part of the attic. I've been to many houses that have wasted a lot of money on flashing lights for squirrel prevention, and the squirrels weren't driven away, and I had to do the job properly.



How to Prevent a Squirrel From Getting Into Your House: You can completely prevent a squirrel from getting inside your home. This is fortunate. Squirrels can cause considerable damage when they enter and inhabit a house. In an attic, they often chew on wood, drywall, and electrical wires, bring in nesting material, and can spread contamination. If they manage to get into the living space of a house, they often frantically knock over objects, chew, etc. Luckily, it's easy to prevent a squirrel from getting inside the house - you just need to make sure that there are no openings leading inside the house, anywhere. Do a full inspection of the house, from top to bottom. Look for any openings that lead into the architecture. Pay particularly close attention to vents: roof vents, the dryer vent, ridge cap vents, and gable vents - these vents are often screened with a flimsy screen, that has either corroded with time, or which a squirrel can chew through. Look for areas where roof lines meet, and eaves touch against roof. Any wildlife professional worth his salt is now an expert at preventing squirrels from getting inside a house or building.



Squirrel Prevention - Chimney: One of the easiest things you can do. Buy a proper steel chimney cap, and install it snugly over the top of the chimney. Problem solved!

How to Prevent a Squirrel From Getting In the Attic: That's what this website is all about. If you already have squirrels in your attic, go to the home page and read it, or hire one of my wildlife control professionals in your city. But to prevent it from happening, as stated above, you must find and seal shut all open holes leading into the building, and you must use steel, like flashing or steel screen, to do it, so that they can't chew their way in.

The bottom line for both grey squirrel prevention and red squirrels as well (they pretty much behave the same) is that you can prevent them from getting into the house, attic, soffits, eaves, or chimney, and that's the most important thing. Other than that, it's hard. You can prevent them from getting to your birdfeeder if you have a good enough baffle, but if they're eating your crops in your garden, flowers, tree bark, or chewing on wood, that's a tough situation. There is no easy and effective repellent or sound/light/electric device to keep them away. You can read some of my below articles for more information, or give me an email, or call a wildlife pro in your hometown by clicking here, and they can do a full squirrel-proofing preventative work on your house.

- How to catch a squirrel
- Squirrels in the ceiling
- Squirrels in the chimney
- Photos of squirrel damage
- Squirrel poison examination
- Squirrel relocation advice
- Squirrel removal tactics
- Squirrel repellent analysis
- Squirrel trapping guide
- How to keep squirrels away
- Squirrels in the wall

What Can I Use To Keep Squirrels Away Without Using Poison? The first thing to do when you suspect you have a squirrel problem is a little detective work. Find the path the squirrel is using and then you should be able to decide what you can use to keep squirrels away without using poison. It will pay you well to get up early and keep a look out so that you can familiarize yourself with the route it uses to get to and from the next and see the holes in your walls and woodwork that the squirrels are getting through. There are many humane traps available on the market, once you have made your choice it is a good idea to leave the trap in place but without it being set-this will hopefully lull the squirrel into a false sense of security - after a few days place the bait, prime the trap and hey presto you should be able to keep squirrels away without using poison. Some people think that other than traps there are also gadgets available which emit a high frequency sound audible only to animals, it may be that using a number of these around your property may resolve your rodent problem as well as your squirrel problem. These units are easy to use, but they just don't work. As discussed repellent products and devices are futile. But luckily, it's very easy to just seal the entry hole shut, after you've installed a one-way exclusion door or trap.


Go back to the Squirrels in the Attic home page.

NEED SQUIRREL REMOVAL HELP? We service over 150 USA cities. click gere to hire us in your home town. Updated 2021.